Rocketober is here!
The celebration of fall in South Milwaukee begins this week with Homecoming festivities, a sure-to-be-terrific concert at the South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center, and a full day of activities on Saturday. Then it’s food trucks on Sunday.
Check out the schedule below, and be sure to like the Rocketober Facebook page.
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One of South Milwaukee’s longstanding organizations has a new home — and with it a renewed commitment to the city it has called home for more than 50 years.
Mary Linsmeier School recently completed a move from Grant Park Plaza to South Milwaukee United Methodist Church, 1327 Marshall Ave.
I recently got a tour of the facility from David Linsmeier, son of the woman who founded the nonprofit, and I left impressed.
This is their third location in South Milwaukee after opening in 1965 at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, shortly after Mary Linsmeier began offering preschool and kindergarten classes to children in Wauwatosa — work that has grown to include full-day child care, programming and other “wrap-around” services.
From their website …
Mary Linsmeier began teaching when her own eight children were young. Having taught elementary school, she was well aware of the child’s interest in learning if the lessons were taught in a simple and interesting way. After studying other methods of teaching, including Montessori education, she concluded that the more the senses are involved in learning, the more the child would enjoy and retain the concepts.
The first mary linsmeier school was started in 1964 in response to many parents who wanted a first rate early childhood education for their children. Since that time, additional programs have been established. The success of the program is best demonstrated by the reputation that mary linsmeier schools has throughout Wisconsin.
Today, there are 10 Mary Linsmeier locations in schools, educational wings of churches or near hospitals. The South Milwaukee location is licensed for 50 kids, and they currently serve 39.
Learn more about Mary Linsmeier Schools on their website and Facebook page.
Thanks for calling South Milwaukee home!
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It’s budget season, and here are some key dates to keep in mind in the weeks ahead …
All meetings are at City Hall, and I encourage you to be part of the debate.
Remember, we will be preparing two budgets this year, one accounting for the two potential results of the Nov. 7 public safety referendum.
Both versions will be bring some amount of pain, as we face continued challenges due to rising costs and reduced revenues.
To illustrate this, I give you two numbers around the property tax levy, our biggest source of operating revenue, and the impact of state-imposed levy limits …
So, we are faced with essentially no increase. Again.
This is a challenge (and many other fully developed, small-growth communities) have been confronted with for a decade. We have met this challenge with responsible budgets that have done their best to preserve our core city services. That is getting increasingly difficult, and our budgets in recent years have reflected that.
And barring reasonable changes to levy limit law, this will continue to be the case for 2018 and the years ahead.
This is our reality. The budget is that reality in writing.
I encourage you to learn more throughout the budget process this fall.
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News from around the South Shore includes a story on a proposed self-storage development at the former South Park Lanes site and the retirement of our police chief.
Also, NOW has published a new police blotter.
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The South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center keeps raising the bar on the acts it brings to our city.
The latest big name to come: the Violent Femmes!
The group is playing at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 20. The show was announced today.
From the press release …
It has been 19 years since the Violent Femmes did a special tour of small theatres around Wisconsin. That tour resulted in the live CD, ”Viva Wisconsin”. This fall they will visit 5 cities again playing small, intimate theatres. All shows go on sale Friday September 8.
Peter Jest will again be the promoter for this tour. “I am very excited and proud to be promoting these dates. I have been promoting 34 years and it is an honor to bring Wisconsin’s most famous and internationally known band back to their home state to play. The Milwaukee band that was “discovered” outside a Milwaukee Theatre by the Pretenders now will go inside 5 Wisconsin theaters playing before intimate crowds. I was at the Pretenders show in 1980 and I have promoted many Violent Femmes dates over the years. They never put on a bad show. Violent Femmes are a band that you could bring a person to one of their concerts who never heard of them and they would become an instant fan. The songs and musicianship are very unique and entertaining.”
The group has a local connection, too. Its drummer, John Sparrow, is a South Milwaukee graduate. Here is Milwaukee Journal Sentinel coverage of the news.
And here is information on the SMPAC season series, which starts Sept. 15 with the Official Blues Brothers Revue. Get your tickets now!
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This post and list will be updated as events are added. It was last updated September 5, with the Violent Femmes concert at the PAC. To stay on top of the latest Rocketober developments, please follow the Facebook page.
Several years ago, we sought to bring together all of the cool activities happening around town in October (plus or minus a couple weeks) and brand them.
The goal: Help our fair city “own” this terrific time of year. It’s working.
The lineup for Rocketober is again impressive this year, as we become famous for the events we host in South Milwaukee in the fall (and throughout the year).
Here is a PDF of this year’s list, starting with Homecoming weekend.
Mark your calendars. We’ll see you around town, and happy Rocketober!
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Welcome to Bird City!
I’m proud to announce that South Milwaukee has been selected as a Bird City by Bird City Wisconsin, a partnership led by the Bird Protection Fund of the Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin and the Milwaukee Audubon Society.
From our city website …
The City of South Milwaukee is committed to making our community healthy for birds and people, and is proud to be a designated Bird City Wisconsin. The City is part of an important migratory flyway, and also provides vital nesting habitat for many species. Lake Michigan, the Oak Creek Parkway, Grant Park, the Mill Pond, and perhaps even your back yard are all appreciated by people and birds alike.
Today, we celebrate that, as we join more than 90 other communities across the state with this designation. Look for events, signage and more opportunities for us to celebrate our newfound status and take pride in what makes our city special.
I thank local birder Rita Wiskowski for her work on the application, and for the photos in this post. She, along with many others in the area, has a passion for birding that helped deliver this well-deserved recognition.
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